Category Archives: Socialism

This following was written by Thomas Meisenhelder, Professor of Sociology at California State University, San Bernardino. As always, reposting here is for critical discussion and does not imply, agreement, endorsement, or affiliation. Thanks to the comrades over at Anti-imperialism.com for helping to spread the piece.

This is a most difficult time for revolutionary socialists. The rapid collapse and disintegration of the Soviet Union, the electoral defeat of the Sandinistas, the many problems of Cuba, and the demise of revolutionary Marxism-Leninism in Africa all force a serious questioning of basic ideas and strategies. It is a time when global capital seems to rule nearly unchallenged throughout the world. If revolutionary socialism is to be revitalized, received truths about revolution and socialism must be reviewed. Serious questions must be asked. Why so many failed revolutions ending in some form of elitist rule? So far most answers to this question wisely stress a global context of resurgent capitalism; however, it also is important to probe socialist revolutions internally. Read the rest of this entry →

Thanks to comrade OskarMLM for making these reports available. According to these reports the left-wing of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) from the “hardline” under the leadership of comrade Mohan Baidya have, apparently, announced that they will split from the Party after May 27, which is the deadline for drafting a new constitution for Nepal. Of course keep in mind that these reports from bourgeois news sources and cannot be verified by The Speed of Dreams.

The following article is a critique of trend within libertarian anti-capitalist thought often known as autonomism or autonomous Marxism. This trend, which blends together Marxist and anarchist ideas, is most famously manifested in the politics of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas.

It was written by the late Algerian-born French Trotskyist Daniel Bensaïd. He was a leading theorist of the Revolutionary Communist League, France’s largest Trotskyist organization. In the year before his death Daniel took part in the merger of the LCR with several smaller left parties to form the New Anticapitalist Party. Here he primarily takes aim at a then recent book by John Holloway, Change the World Without Taking Power: The Meaning of Revolution Today.

As usual though, the posting of this article is an endorsement of the politics and analysis of Daniel Bensaïd and the LCR/NPA. It posted for the purposes of stimulating discussion. Read the rest of this entry →